Tim Sherwood accused his charges of being 'too nice' to each other after Tottenham fell to a thumping 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

A clearly vexed Sherwood called on his players to show more guts and character.

"Obviously, the first goal anyone can slip, and it's a bad error," the Tottenham head coach said after the defeat. "The second one, the penalty and the sending-off has gone against us, unfortunately.

"The game's over after that. It still doesn't legislate for the capitulation."

Asked what did legislate for the capitulation, he replied: "A lack of characters. Too many of them are too nice to each other. We need to show a bit more guts and not want to be someone's mate all the time. It can't always be me. They need to drag it out of each other.

3/27
Gary Cahill - 7

4/27
John Terry - 7

With Adebayor drifting around the pitch little to do – good in the air. Dealt with everything comfortably.

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5/27
Cesar Azpilicueta - 6

Solid for the most part but occasionally has looked vulnerable to the power of Walker down the right – booked late on after committing a number of niggling fouls.

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6/27
Nemanja Matic - 7

Did his job of snuffing out Spurs attacks in the middle well – unspectacular but solid.

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7/27
Frank Lampard - 6

Looked most likely to create something for stagnant Chelsea in first half – set forwards free on a couple of occasions with passes over the top. Took a yellow card for the team perhaps explaining his substitution at half time.

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8/27
Ramires - 6

A threat breaking from midfield and winning free kicks but failed to produce in the final third – particularly dangerous with his pace after Tottenham were reduced to ten men.

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9/27
Eden Hazard - 7

Poor first half highlighted by open goal miss but came to life after the break and supplied the cross which led to the penalty he converted.

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10/27
Andre Schurrle - 5

Hardly involved in the first half – slightly more lively after the break but touch deserted him too often and withdrawn just after the hour mark – will be disappointed not to have built on last week’s hat-trick at Fulham.

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11/27
Samuel Eto'o - 8

A late replacement for the injured Fernando Torres – Eto’o was a threat to the Tottenham defence early on, harshly adjudged to be off-side, setting up Hazard and then going close himself. Got a deserved goal latching onto Vertonghen’s back pass and then won penalty to put Chelsea out of sight.

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12/27
Willian - 6

Looked lively after half time introduction and linked up well with Hazard and Willian but spurned good chance late on.

13/27
Oscar - 6

Bright after coming off the bench for the final quarter of the game. Would expect to be recalled in place of Schurrle next week.

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14/27
Demba Ba - 8

Came on for the last 15 minutes in place of Eto’o and took his opportunity grabbing two poacher’s goals after sloppy Tottenham defending.

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15/27
Hugo Lloris - 6

Hard to criticise the Frenchman for any of Chelsea’s goals – let down by his defence but might be disappointed to have been beaten between his legs twice.

16/27
Kyle Naughton - 7

Pick of the Tottenham defenders at right back – nullified Hazard in the first half and unlucky to be on the end of a drubbing.

17/27
Michael Dawson - 5

Looked all at sea early on as Chelsea spurned good opportunities and caused team mate Naughton to take a yellow after a poor pass and to compound issues was forced off injured after 70 minutes.

18/27
Younes Kaboul - 5

Vulnerable with Dawson early on but had appeared solid until harsh red card for bringing down Eto’o in the box.

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19/27
Jan Vertonghen - 5

Absolute howler for Chelsea opener – slipped and instead of taking the safe option played a terrible back pass letting Eto’o in to score. Moved from left back to centre back after Kaboul red card but things didn’t get any better for him as Chelsea pulled away.

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20/27
Kyle Walker - 5

Enjoyed playing in more advanced midfield role in the first half and showed moments of class but was guilty of another poor back pass when he headed the ball to Demba Ba for Chelsea’s fourth.

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21/27
Nabil Bentaleb - 5

Missed one of Spurs’ best chances of the match before being booked for a cynical tug back on Ramires. Almost gifted Chelsea the lead with misplaced pass and failed to make an impact throughout.

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22/27
Sandro - 7

Battled throughout and was effective at spoiling Chelsea’s attempts to get forward in the first half. Tested Petr Cech with a fine left footed strike from the edge of the box.

23/27
Aaron Lennon - 6

Bright first half saw him involved in most good things Tottenham did –held the ball up and linked the play well but too often strayed away from the penalty area. Powerless to do anything about Spurs’ second half collapse.

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24/27
Gylfi Sigurdsson - 5

Neat but struggled to make an impact. Hauled off following the red card.

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25/27
Emmanuel Adebayor -6

Bright first half saw him involved in most good things Tottenham did –held the ball up and linked the play well but too often strayed away from the penalty area. Powerless to do anything about Spurs’ second half collapse.

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26/27
Paulinho - 5

Brought on to to shore up Spurs midfield following Kaboul red card but failed to stem the flow of goals.

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27/27
Zeki Fryers - 5

Replaced injured Dawson late on – little he could do about late Ba goals.

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He added: "I'm not going to forget about this by the time we get on the motorway.

"We are miles away from the top four unless we beat the top teams. There's been too many blips and we can't rely on rolling smaller teams over.

"People and the club think we will finish top four… wake up."

Spurs take on Benfica on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, and Sherwood called for an immediate response to repay the fans for their support.

"The fans were fantastic here for us," he said. "We let them down again on the big occasion. We're not going to finish top four if we can't beat the top teams. It ain't going to happen. Miles away - unless you beat the top teams.

"We beat Manchester United, Everton, who are in and around us, but you're reliant on, with respect, the smaller teams all the time and it can't happen like that."